Three H: Holy, Healthy, Happy

I Need a Change Weight: 321 Surgery Weight: 307.5 Current Weight: 281.4 Goal Weight: TBD, but definitely under 200. I think 180 is attainable, hopefully even 160. I doubt anything less is realistic, but I wouldn't be upset with 150.  Five weeks to the day following my surgery, I have lost a total of 26.1 pounds! The majority of it was lost in the first two weeks. I lost about 20 pounds during that frame. Week 3 sucked.  The scale went up and down and pissed me off as I floundered around in the " Week 3 stall ," which I didn't know was even a thing... but it is, and I stuck to the program and moved past it.      Week 4 started to improve. Week 5 I seem to be hitting my stride! I lost 2.5 pounds this week! I feel like I'm getting the hang of portions, protein, and hydration.   Once I read that lipolysis depends on water and that broken down fat is either peed out or breathed out , I made sure to not skimp on my water intake and even boost it up more when poss...

Progress Report Today marks 3 weeks since my surgery on May 22nd. I lost weight quickly during the first two weeks. I averaged about 1.5 lbs lost every day. Some days it was closer to 2lbs and some days closer to 0.5lbs, but most were steadily around 1.5lbs. It was pretty exciting to have lost 20 pounds in 2 weeks! I'm already feeling better: I feel that I am sleeping better; I'm dreaming again and the dreams make more sense and are often entertaining. I feel a little more rested after sleep than I had been feeling before surgery. Weight loss does improve sleep apnea, which is wonderful, but I know I'm not out of the woods yet, either. It is much easier to move my body around. Before surgery I felt stiff and sore and it was a chore to just get my body moving. Whether it was being overloaded on carbs or salt or both... well, I don't know. I just know my body already feels lighter and it was feeling lighter just days after surgery so I know it wasn't a matter of losin...

On Friday, May 22nd, 2020 I had gastric sleeve surgery. I call that Day 0. My husband and I woke at 3:30 AM (after going to bed at 2:00 AM because we were both anxious and kept ourselves distracted by watching a movie.  We arrived at the hospital at 5:00 AM wearing our surgical masks as instructed and both had our temps taken and used hand sanitizer as required. I was feeling a little woozy. I thought maybe it was from low blood sugar but once I was back in the pre-op area they did a finger stick which read 154... so I guess not. Perhaps wonky blood pressure or just re-breathing CO2 from wearing the mask constantly.  They took me back rather promptly at 7:30 AM and I scooted over onto the bed with the foot rest and arms in a weird crucifixion pattern. My husband had mentioned that I would not be lying flat, that I'd be at an angle, which I hadn't read before, but the foot rest seemed to indicate that I would indeed be at an angle. The anesthesiologist was rather stoic until he...

In my last post, I mentioned working three days on the week of my surgery which was scheduled for Friday. On the morning of Wednesday, March 18th, the surgeon's office called... I was afraid they were going to cancel on me. But no, they were just checking that I was still planning to come on Friday for my surgery. Yes, I sure was! The rest of the day went about the same as any work day. I had taken a shorter lunch so I was leaving a few minutes before 5:00 and as I headed to my car, the phone rang. It was the surgeon's office again. Uh oh.  PAUSE When I answered the phone I knew instantly by the tone of her voice that they were cancelling my surgery. They didn't know yet when they'd be able to do it... they imagined sometime in May, but couldn't say for sure. It was a blow. I took it pretty hard. In my mind, all the worst-case scenarios began. The pandemic would put it off indefinitely, dragging out until September or later when it would be a year since I started th...

Well, on the day my daughter would have gone back to school after being out for two weeks for her tonsillectomy and recovery, school was cancelled. Her school has scrambled to determine a way to continue instruction remotely for the duration of this pandemic situation. I had to visit 5, nay 6, stores before I found a sizable pack of toilet paper which will last my family a couple weeks. I've still been unable to find hand sanitizer so my husband and I split the contents of one 75% bottle between us, using that little bottle to refill an empty one we had laying around. My dad, in his 80's, has stayed home more than usual, but not as much as would make me feel secure.  My husband is home from work and intends to stay home as long as this lasts, especially since he is home with our daughter. I had planned to only work three days this week anyway because of my surgery, but honestly I feel the need to hunker down at home. We've had our first case in my county; it's t...

WOW! I'm surprised, but happily so! I'm technically not diabetic anymore! I'm not entirely out of the woods as I'm still in the pre-diabetic range, but my A1C has come down since it was last checked 3 months ago! This is so encouraging! Last summer I was pretty disappointed to find that I was technically already diabetic. My A1C was 6.6% on more than one blood test. I knew it wasn't a crazy level, and given I was already on metformin it was considered "under control" because it was less than 7%. It's so encouraging to me that the small changes I've made are actually making an impact! This is a game of inches, not miles, and apparently this is the first time I've really believed that to be true! For reference:  A1C below 5.7% is normal A1C from 5.7% o 6.4% indicates prediabetes A1C from 6.5% or above on 2 separate tests indicates diabetes My recent stats: March 2020: 6.2% December 2019: 6.6% July 2019: 6.6% Back when I wanted to ge...

Of course someone from my generation can't sing that song without thinking of the California Raisins...      But, baby, someone heard it through the grapevine that I'm having bariatric surgery!  I'm typically a quiet, introspective person who doesn't tell everyone my business... which I'm sure sounds contradictory given I'm writing this here blog of mine... but it's really just for me. I do it as a way to journal and keep track of my info. It's not something I plan to monetize and make money from or try to get likes, shares, and a guest spot on Ellen.  I've been debating a while as to whether I want to notify my Facebook community. Part of me wants to say, "Oh, by the way, I'm having surgery and I appreciate your prayers." But then that's always followed up with questions or concerns and whatnot. Or it sounds like your trying to get that kind of attention and baiting them. The people closest to me know about my surgery be...

I haven't been keeping great records on my own, however in looking at my secure medical informtion online, it is nice to see that I've lost 10 pounds since my first meeting with my surgeon back in September. That's almost 7 months ago, so 10 pounds over 7 months isn't a lot, but I also haven't been putting forth a concerted effort, either... and that time span includes many holidays! If I work a bit more consistently, I'm sure I can do more. I would love to be under 300 on the date of my surgery... which is actually possible! Measured on 3/9/2020 Weight: 305 lb  BMI: 48.49 Measured on 12/23/2019 Weight: 310 lb, 3.2 oz BMI: 48.58 Blood Pressure: 132/85 Temperature: 98.9 Pulse: 92  Decision visit with bariatric surgeon. Measured on 11/20/2019 Weight: 313 lb, 3.2 oz BMI: 49.05 Blood Pressure: 134/86 Pulse: 98  Measured on 9/17/2019 Weight: 315 BMI: 49.34 Blood Pressure:...

I randomly decided to name this post "Take a load off, Annie," after some familiar song lyrics... and when I looked up the song, I discovered that the girl's name is actually "Fanny" which, as I learned growing up, is another word for butt. Not only that, but the name of the song is called "The Weight." This is turning out to be one giant LOL moment because it's so ironic that I'm using this combination of words on my weight loss blog! While I do need to take a load off of my fanny's weight, this is not the only strange coincidence I've dealt with lately. Monday of this week I had to go for my final round of pre-operative appointments for my gastric sleeve surgery. First, I had to stop by the surgeon's office to sign the paperwork allowing them to surgerize me. (Yeah, I totally just made up that word). Parked out front of the bariatric surgeon's office was a dadgum barbecue food truck. Granted, there are a lot of other medic...